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In its ever increasing hold on users of its new operating system, Windows 10, Microsoft has reached a new level of intrusion: their Start menu will deliver ads disguised as 'suggestions'.
We all understand that ads are a way of life of most companies that try to make a living on the internet, but Microsoft isn't exactly one of those companies that are strapped for cash.
While Microsoft will not be serving regular ads in the Start menu, they are in fact ads for apps (programs for those who have not migrated to this new naming). Microsoft is calling them 'suggestions', but that is simply a somewhat obscure way of saying 'advertising'.
This 'feature' that's currently only being shown to Windows Insiders who have updated to build 10565 of Windows 10, but it could soon spread to everyone else.
How to disable this intrusive feature? Easy. Just right click the suggestion and you can opt to hide a particular app or to turn off all future suggestions.

Suppose you are being stalked by a former lover or simply get emails via Gmail that cannot be thwarted via 'Reporting Spam' (the button with the exclamation mark). The question is therefore: how do you get your peace of mind back without reporting the sender to the police.
The answer is easy.
If you're viewing your mail on a computer:
1. Open the email
2. At the top right of the email, click the down arrow
3. Click Block [sender]
If you blocked someone by mistake, you can unblock them using the same steps.
If you're viewing your mail on an Android phone or tablet go here for a solution.

Microsoft Edge comes with Microsoft's own default search engine, Bing.com. That's not a problem if you like Bing but it is if you want another search engine, such as Google. The solution is a bit elaborate. - Open Microsoft Edge and goto 'Google.com' - Select the “…” more menu in the top right corner - Select Settings from the menu - Scroll down to “View advanced settings” and hit the button - Scroll down to “Search in the address bar with” and hit the button - Choose “Add new” - You'll now see a list of available search engines - Choose “Add as default”

With the launch of Cortana, Microsoft’s hope is to build a digital assistant that can help manage both your personal and professional life. Cortana’s integration is based on a digital notebook that works between multiple Windows PC’s, Tablets, and Phones. This notebook can store events, show finical information like stocks, provide the weather, show recent movie trailers and even help track UPS packages. In regards to productivity, Cortana manages appointments and can provide suggested departure times for meetings based on local traffic. Recently, Microsoft has expanded Cortana’s functionality with LinkedIn. Users now have the option to add their LinkedIn profile to Cortana’s notebook. A user does this by selecting their notebook and going into “Connected Accounts”. From here, users can log in with their LinkedIn account. Doing so, now allows Cortana to aggregate information about those you will be meeting with for your next calendar appointment. No problem there, you might think, but you have to remember that Windows 10 sends quite a lot of information to its servers in order to 'simply trying to enhance the program by understanding what users do'. With the addition of your LinkedIn account to Cortana, Microsoft takes one further step in 'understanding what users do'. Stop Windows 10 from spying on you. See here for the solution.

Suppose you've been caught installing malware on computers twice, I imagine you would make sure you wouldn'd be caught again. Not Chinese computer maker Lenovo. In the spring of 2015, Lenovo was caught red-handed for selling laptops pre-installed with Superfish malware that opened up doors for hackers. Then, in August, Lenovo again got caught installing unwanted and non-removable malware into part of the BIOS reserved for custom drivers. Now, Lenovo has once again been caught installing spyware on its laptops and workstations without the user's permission or knowledge. The Chinese computer manufacturer is hitting the news once again for embedding tracking software into its laptops and workstations from Lenovo ThinkPad, ThinkCentre, and ThinkStation series. Lenovo pre-installed a software program, called 'Lenovo Customer Feedback Program 64' that operates daily on these systems and can be categorized as malware. The sole purpose of this program is to send customers' feedback data back to Lenovo servers. Yes, the company has obscurely mentioned this in its EULA (which hardly anyone reads), but nobody ever asked you permission for a Customer Feedback program while setting up your Lenovo computer. More info and removal instructions here.

Microsoft’s Windows 10 has met with critisism because it seems riddled with features that track and trace your every move on your computer. As I have said here, that, while the company is insisting that it was 'not spying' but simply trying to enhance the program by understanding what users do, Windows 10 is constantly collecting users’ data, sharing Wi-Fi passwords to contacts (albeit with encryption), and collects data and usage patterns exhibited by every user of Windows 10. Then we wrote here about the news that Windows 10 behaves like a true keylogger and we hoped that that would be the end of the intrusive behaviour of Windows 10. It wasn't. Accepting Microsoft’s Services Agreement, which you need to do before installing Windows 10, gives Microsoft the right automatically issue system software updates that can disable pirated software and even counterfeit hardware peripherals. Yes, you should of course steer clear of illegal stuff, but there’s something undeniably disturbing about the very idea that Windows 10 always keeps a watchful eye on the software and hardware you may or may not be using. More info here.

Correct. But every antivirus company must have some sort of business model to remain in buniness. Some offer paid versions, some use adware, some sell collected non-personal data and some even try to eradicate their competitors. Kaspersky is one of the antivirus companies that tried to 'rub out' AVG. Plus, Eugene Kaspersky was once a member of the KGB. Would you trust him? More information here.

To answer the original question: Oracle has now created its Java Uninstall Tool. See here. The blurb: The Java Uninstall tool helps you improve your computer security by simplifying the process of finding and uninstalling older versions of Java. The Uninstall tool shows you a list of the Java versions on your computer and then removes those that are out of date.

@Tarun It was a risk I took to mention two seperate programs that addressed the same problem. I accept that it could have caused some problems and removed the one that offered OpenCandy. You were right to mention the issue.

Antivirus companies are increasingly advertising the cloud-based capabilities of their products, telling us that 'the speed of cloud computing to deliver real-time protection' is the next big step in your protection. Yes, in some sense 'the cloud' improves the effectiveness of your antivirus program. A novel way of interaction is now possible between your antivirus program and the servers of the antivirus company. But this communication between your program and their servers could turn into a real problem for the privacy of the data on your computer. The question therefore is: which is more important? Do you consider a little improvement in your antivirus database more important than the potential loss of important data? Imagine Windows Defender could send some important or confidential files to their servers and then their analysts would read or even use these files. And yes, Windows Defender does have that particular feature. If the program encounters an unknown file during its regular scan, it asks the user permission to send it to the servers of Microsoft for further analysis. At first glance, this feature seems harmless enough, but 'the cloud' is not a safe place to be in. It is prone to malware itself, because if Windows Defender can access your file, any malware can use the same method. More information and a fix here.

Yes, we already knew that Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 10, is riddled with tracking and spying services, that are enabled by default. See here. But now it has been revealed that Windows 10 automatically and regularly sends parents detailed dossiers of their children's internet history and computer use. Microsoft calls it 'Monitor your child’s device use with activity reports'. Read more here.

Some users of Windows 10 report an unresponsive taskbar. This problem has dogged beta-versions of Windows 10 since around February 2015 and Windows doesn't seem to be able to remedy the problem. So, your taskbar doesn't seem to react to your mouse clicks or left clicks, but it does react to right clicks. When hovering over taskbar icons, tooltips do not seem to work properly. The fix is relatively easy. [1] Right click the Start button [2] Choose Command prompt (Admin) [3] Type 'PowerShell' (without the '') in the black window (C:\WINDOWS\system32>PowerShell) and hit Enter [4] Paste the following command in the Administrator: Windows PowerShell window and hit Enter: Get-AppXPackage -AllUsers | Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register "$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml"}
[5] Wait for PowerShell to execute and complete the command. Ignore the few errors (in red color) that may pop up. Now your taskbar should – hopefully – be back to normal (again).

@willis100: Yes, you're quite right. But only if you do not visit dodgy websites, pr0n sites and sites that offer 'free' hacks, cracks, games or whatever. And remember not to open mails from unknown senders. But the vast majority of people simply do not practice those simple rules. No wonder then that in the Middle East people have the highest rates of infection: illegal versions of Windows operating systems, no up-to-date antivirus programs and secretly downloading stuff that they shouldn't download. See here. So, yes, it works probably perfectly for you. But others need to be protected for their own sake and ours. Suppose you get infected by a botnet?